


put a price on emotion

by tonysnarks



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: 5 Times, Angst, Anidala (Mentioned), Hurt/Comfort, ahsoka cleans up his messes, anakin is a blatant idiot, clone wars be giving me brain damage, i may not show it but
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:18:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22260133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonysnarks/pseuds/tonysnarks
Summary: Four times Ahsoka managed to help Anakin, and the one time she couldn't.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 6
Kudos: 102





	put a price on emotion

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by harry styles' fine line & the score for ahsoka's departure. <3

i.

There’s a hole in Anakin’s knuckle, and not the mechanical one.

As soon as the laser rips through, he collapses against the wall with a cry, clutching the injured hand to his stomach. Ahsoka peeks around their barrier just long enough to deflect two well-aimed shots back at their attackers, then ducks and starts to gesture for his hand.

“Just two droids, Master,” she reports. “Are you okay? Let me see.”

“It’s fine, Snips, don’t even—“

Ahsoka fixes Anakin a look that screams _can-you-just-cooperate_. They’ve been through this situation so many times that the bickering only totals to wasted time, so begrudgingly, and in obvious pain, Anakin offers up his hand.

If she tries, Ahsoka could probably look straight through the hole under his ring finger and skimming his fourth knuckle.

Anakin seems to be thinking the same thing. “What do you think, doc?”

“I think it’s time to get you out of here,” says Ahsoka, tearing the hem of his robes to wrap the wound. “Next time, _I’m_ picking the scout mission.”

“Yeah, that’s fair.”

He starts to reach for his lightsaber with his left hand — his mechanical and less accurate hand even when he’s not nursing a laser wound — but Ahsoka puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“I’ve got your back.”

ii.

It’s unusually hot on Onderon.

Ahsoka keeps the speeder running for Anakin’s sake — he’s late to return, as usual — but the heat from the engine is getting unbearably uncomfortable against her rear. She makes a mental note to avoid being lookout in the future, since Anakin never fails to take his sweet time on stalking assignments.

However, the sound of blaster fire snaps Ahsoka out of her daze. She’s already got one hand on her lightsaber and the other on the throttle by the time Anakin scrambles behind her belting, “Go, go, go!” and throwing a bag into the front compartment.

She guns the engine and doesn’t stop until they’re in the clear outside the city’s forested limits. There, with the throttle running hot, she switches the speeder off and looks back at Anakin, his face flushed with the thrill of success.

“Oh, Snips,” sighs Anakin, a little shakily. “What would I do without you?”

“You’re cutting it close, Master.”

The sound of his nervous laughter, hoarse around the edges with palpable relief, is enough compensation for what she endures for him.

iii.

Ahsoka doesn’t know how it happens but the two of them are left alone, Anakin and her, alone in the dark of his meditation chamber. He hasn’t stopped trembling since coming out of his nightmare and the least she can do is be there for him, offering gentle words of affirmation to calm him down. She thinks it must be the unbalance on Mortis that is causing his visions, but even if it is, Ahsoka would rather have Obi-Wan feed her Kouhuns instead of letting Anakin deal with this alone.

Their years together have developed a bond, anyway; a silence conformed between them that manages to provide Anakin ground. Ahsoka knows this. She knows her way around his tantrums and disputes and even now, the nights where he is at his most vulnerable.

She knows that in the morning, he won’t mention it, and neither will she. She knows her mentor, inside and out, as he knows her.

When Anakin’s breathing returns to normal, Ahsoka frees herself from him, just to give him some privacy, but not before he can mutter a broken thanks.

It’s the least Ahsoka can do.

iv.

Padme’s perfume is on him when Anakin comes back to their speeder parked outside the shopping district, holding up two outfit options for tonight’s scout on a planet known for its subzero climate. If Ahsoka wasn’t aware of their secrecy in the relationship she might have mentioned the fragrance; choosing instead to focus on the pair of parkas and snow pants Anakin flaunts with a grin.

“You like ‘em?” he asks, shimmying them around in a way a butcher might hold up fresh cuts. “Senator Amidala helped me choose.”

They’re decent quality, nothing fancy of fashion, simply made to withstand the harsh weather on polar planets. One is made of a light cream material, much like the dough on Coruscanti pastry, and the other, woven deep blue, similar to the colour of Anakin’s eyes.

“They’re nice,” says Ahsoka. “Why two, though?”

“One is for Obi-Wan, so you gotta tell me which one looks better, and I can give him the alternative.”

That makes her laugh. “You keep the blue one — Master Kenobi basically wears the other as his robes every day.”

Anakin smiles, throwing the day’s shopping into the back of the speeder before taking the wheel. He always looks better after a day out of the Temple; face flushed with red, hair disheveled, more slant in his grin than Obi-Wan would probably care for. “You’ve been trained well, Padawan.”

“Only because I had a good Master.”

v.

Ahsoka almost hates herself for it. Looking at the hurt in Anakin’s face might convince her to stay, but she can’t let that happen, can’t play the charade any longer. He has offered her so many answers to so many questions but the wall prevailing them from one another, here and now, is something not easily explained by Anakin Skywalker.

They stand back to back, both too emotional to look one another in the eye and say the things that need to be said. Her master — her _old_ master — says something about understanding the desire to leave the Jedi Order, but the words are already known to her, something she has realized over years spent with him, nights of terror and days of resonance. As much as she thinks she might need him, he needs her more.

“ _I know,_ ” is enough for him to understand. _I know,_ carries the weight of everything she has stomached for fourteen years.

Ahsoka just hopes it is enough for Anakin, before she walks down the Temple steps for the last time.


End file.
